Thursday, July 28, 2011

Microchips....

Everycat at our house except Maestro has one (he is 16 and has NO interest in going anywhere).

Mom saw this article on the Today Show website about mandatory microchipping of all animals adopted and reclaimed from shelters in California.

What do you think??

We think it is a great idea.

However....it is up to the owners to keep the info up to date.

Ivy's chip has a one-time registration fee and mom can get online to update the info whenever she needs to - plus she has loaded a picture and other contact info including our vet.

But, her chip is different from everyone else's chip. For the guys, mom can load a picture and other contact info, but there is an annual charge to keep it updated. Which seems like a crime to us. Especially since she has to go it for 5 of us. Aren't more people LESS likely to keep it updated if they have to pay every year? Just send an email reminder to update info once per year and let it go. So, mom has been bad. The info on 4 of us is in their database but she hasn't paid the "renewal" fee yet. And...she hasn't registered Junior's chip. BAD MOM!!! Especially since Junior and Spud refuse to wear their collars with their microchip tags on them.  (yeah, I will get on it - promise!)

we aren't holding our breaths...but can you see our collars??

9 comments:

  1. We're not to sure about those since we never go anywhere either...but thanks for making us think as you never know what could happen.

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  2. I don't know what to say about the micro chip deal. I know for all my cats that live outside, I would be nervous wreck putting collars on them with fear of them getting caught on things. But I guess it is a good idea for those cats that might escape their homes for a short period.

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  3. I'm all for microchipping your furries but less so on charging yearly for keeping things updated! Oh dear!! Personally I feel safer that Charlie is chipped with all his and my details just in case. Collars with your pets' details are just as good too! Take care
    x

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  4. In theory microchipping is a great idea, but in reality some cats and dogs have reactions to them and like vaccines develop cancer from them. I don't much like the idea that it is mandated for ALL pets with out some provision for owners who feel the downsides don't outweigh the positives.

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  5. The yearly update charge is just wrong. Most of our cats got their mircochips from the vet where there was a one time charge for life (Pet Link) - no extra costs later. But that didn't stop a nasty company (24 Pet Watch) from trying to scam me by sending me a fear-based letter telling me I need to send them a lot of money to keep my pet's information active. I looked into it and it turns out my pet's information is forever active with Pet Link at no additional cost and 24 Pet Watch must have purchased my name on a mailing list (thank you Pet Link) and was just trying to mislead me in order to get my money. I learned that 24 Pet Watch is a bad company if you have a choice, stay away from them.

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  6. We're micrchipped via PetWatch and there's no annual fee. It's free to update the info. The shelters in this area use PetWatch and as far as we know, all kitties are microchipped as part of the adoption. (It didn't used to be that way; neither Chumley nor Annie was microchipped).

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  7. Our mom thinks is wary of the government making anything mandatory. YES, chipping is a good idea, but we don't think the government needs to get involved.
    Luv,
    Dave

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  8. The microchips on every last one of us is totally out of date - my human needs to fix that.

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  9. Our City has a mandatory microchip law as well except the chips are free as is the entry of data into the database. There may be a fee for changes and a photo is not included but the basic info is listed for the animal's lifetime.

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